Thursday, February 4, 2010

We're #1! We're #1!


And these are the people we owe 1 trillion dollars...

*Gulp*
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2 comments:

  1. Intellectual PerfectualFebruary 5, 2010 at 8:09 PM

    What's so unfortunate about this isn't even necessarily that it propels them ahead of us economically but that from a human rights perspective it significantly weakens our negotiation abilities.

    If we're relying on the Chinese government to fund us we can't expect them to tolerate our criticizing their governments domestic interactions and still lend us money. In fact, in the Dalai Lama's last visit to the United States he wasn't even invited to the White House for fear that it would alienate the Chinese government (although a quick Google News search shows they have since reversed course on meeting him - http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Obama+meet+Dalai+Lama+despite+China+warnings/2513659/story.html). But even in talks with President Hu Jintao it's significantly impacted President Obama's ability to discuss the issue with him - so much so that he didn't even bring it up at their past meeting. This despite the fact he campaigned on the notion that he would pressure them on human rights.

    Perhaps quite interesting to some though is that China's now using it's own position as leverage - not just economically and military (by quickly expanding, but by no means near the level of the United States) to now ask that it's long honored agreement of lending Panda's to the United States be scrapped and that they be sent back to China. Including the youngest Panda at the Washington Zoo which wasn't even born in China but in the United States.

    Another point that you might consider interesting, though, back on the military topic is while I was interning in Washington DC a couple years back I spoke with a congressman from a district with a large military presence in Florida and asked him what he thought of the Chinese military buildup (which at the time was being largely reported, particularly by Lou Dobbs) and he told me he thought that while they were far behind in terms of the quantity of their arms, the quality of their new weaponry was significantly better - particularly their airforce.

    Definitely shows you what we're funding by taking out bad loans, almost reminds you of the Mafia.

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  2. MeredithFebruary 5, 2010 at 9:32 PM

    It's definitely scary. The above post raises the question: what make's us think we have the right to criticize their government's diplomacy when they are physically aiding the US, economically?

    I'll tell you what - the US is a member of the international information community. We have a responsibility to this community to protect and promote a free information network. No, I don't mean militarily. But it is a civil rights abuse (and often signifies a human rights abuse) for a state to censor and restrict the information a citizen can create or access via the Internet. (The academic and political communities have called it the issue of "Internet Freedom").

    So yes, especially in light of the Chinese government's repressive and restrictive policies, the above picture is INCREDIBLY scary (and, dare I say, semi-recognizant of Hitler's Third Reich).

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